21 Jun 2017V&A Museum Shop in LondonDesign: Friend & Company, Architectsphoto : Ed ReeveV&A Photography Centre, London Architecture practice Friend & Company has led the new design of the Victoria & Albert Museum shop, opened on May 4th. With their signature total architecture approach the new shop embraces craftsmanship, and is set to be an inspirational space for the 21st century museum-goer.

2 Jun 2017V&A Photography Centre in London

Design: David Kohn Architects (DKA)

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) reveals the first visual of its new, state-of-the-art Photography Centre, and announces its first major supporter for the project – The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation.

Victoria & Albert Museum Photography Centre

New V&A Photography Centre

V&A announces plans for new Photography Centre and expansion of its world-leading photography collection

Wednesday 5 April 2017 – Today, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) announces the expansion of its vast collection of historic and contemporary photography with the transfer of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) collection from the Science Museum Group. The addition of over 270,000 photographs, 26,000 publications and 6,000 pieces of camera-related equipment reinforces the V&A’s position as one of the most important photography collections in the world.

Through its FuturePlan development project, the V&A will establish a new Photography Centre, creating a new public space to celebrate, appreciate and study photography. Due to open in Autumn 2018, it will be accompanied by a Museum-wide photography festival and a new digital resource for photography enthusiasts around the world.

The creation of the Photography Centre will see the V&A more than double its current photography display area in original nineteenth-century picture galleries by 2018. Designed by David Kohn Architects, it will allow the V&A to display a larger number and range of photographs, negatives, camera technology, books and archival materials than ever before. The Photography Centre will also facilitate exciting events and activities. Phase two of the project will expand the gallery space further and provide a teaching and research space, a browsing library, and a studio and darkroom to enable photographers’ residencies.

New purpose-built storage facilities have been created to house the expanded photography collection, and an extensive project to catalogue and digitise the RPS collection is now underway. This digitisation will provide web access and research resources for all audiences and photography lovers around the world. The Museum will also continue its programme of major photographic exhibitions at the V&A and other venues in the UK and overseas.

Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, said: “Photography is set to become one of the defining collections of the 21st century V&A. We have been conserving and interpreting photography since 1852, and we are now delighted to welcome the RPS collection to the Museum. Today, the V&A cares for one of the most important photography collections in the world. We want to share this remarkable resource with audiences and photography enthusiasts on a global scale, both in person and through an unparalleled digital resource.”

About V&A FuturePlan FuturePlan is an ambitious programme of development which is transforming the V&A. The best contemporary designers are creating exciting new galleries and visitor facilities, while revealing and restoring the beauty of the original building. In the past 15 years, over 85% of the Museum’s public spaces have been transformed, improving access and allowing the collections to be more elegantly and intelligently displayed. By introducing bold new architectural interventions, FuturePlan aims to delight and to inspire visitors, and to continue the Museum’s tradition of championing new talent. vam.ac.uk/info/futureplan

19 Aug 2016

Victoria & Albert Museum Shop

Victoria & Albert Museum Shop Competition Winner

Design: Friend and Company Architects, with Millimetre and RA Projects

image courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum

The main shop in the V&A is being redesigned to create a more lively and flexible retail space at the centre of the gallery.

Friend and Company Architects, with Milimetre and RA Projects were selected from a shortlist of six architectural practices.

David Bickle (Director of FuturePlan, Design, Estates and Exhibitions) from the selection panel said: “There has been a huge shift in the way that we engage with retail, and the role it plays in the wider cultural landscape. Friend and Company’s design reimagines the site of our current shop, offering a new framework for display that is bespoke, finely crafted, and eminently flexible. Their use of high quality materials and carefully detailed finishes perfectly aligns with the values of the V&A as the world’s leading museum of art and design.”

The V&A shop was designed by Eva Jiricna Architects ten years ago. The £1m redesign aims to provide a new flexible retail space.

The design will incorporate the latest digital manufacturing and fabrication techniques. It was inspired by the first museum shop (1863) which the design team researched in the V&A archives.